Wheel of Fortune (Australian game show)

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Wheel of Fortune
Image:Wheel of Fortune Australia.gif
Australia's Favourite Game
Genre Game show
Picture format 16:9
Running time 30 minutes per episode (inc. commercials)
Creator(s) Merv Griffin (USA)
Starring Larry Emdur (host) & Laura Csortan (hostess)
Country of origin Flag of Australia Australia
Original channel Seven Network
Original run July 21, 1981–July 28, 2006
No. of episodes 5,093

Wheel of Fortune was an Australian television game show, produced by Grundy Television and broadcast on the Seven Network from 1981 to 2006. It is based on the original American format of the same name.

Contents

[edit] History

The Australian version of Wheel of Fortune began on the Seven Network on July 21, 1981, being produced from ADS-7. The show's production moved to SAS-7 when ADS-7 and SAS-10 swapped callsigns and network affiliations at the end of 1987. In 1996, Wheel of Fortune relocated to ATN-7, where it remained until the series' cancellation in 2006.

In 2005, the show was rested, with Seven filling its 5pm timeslot with reruns of M*A*S*H. On January 19, 2006, Seven officially announced Wheel's return with Larry Emdur, Laura Csortan, and John Deeks. As well as being screened at 5pm, the new episodes were repeated at 10am one week later. One week after the final 2006 episode, the 10am timeslot was filled with previously-unaired episodes from the start of 2005. The last of these episodes aired on Friday 1st September 2006.

[edit] Mid-1996 controversy

As part of an attempted revamp, the program relocated from Adelaide to the Seven Network's Sydney studios. Along with a new set, new music, faster game format and modified rules, John Burgess was sacked from his twelve-year stint as host and replaced by Tony Barber. By the time that Burgess' final episode went to air, it had become common knowledge that the show had relocated and that changes would occur. The true sign that drama would follow came at the end of Burgess' last episode on July 12 1996, when he stated that the show was moving to Sydney, that it would still be exactly the same despite a new location and, perhaps the most eerie statement of all that "Not everyone is coming with US to Sydney, and we are going to miss a lot of people."

The following Monday, Tony Barber began as host, amid much controversy. Beside the fact that viewers did not appreciate the fact that John Burgess was sacked without a chance to say his goodbyes on air, viewers had trouble accepting the new rules, faster pace and Barber's over-excited hosting style. Additionally, John Burgess had made media appearances telling stories about how he had been badly treated and only found out about his sacking accidentally. Ratings quickly declined, and at the year's end the Seven Network issued carefully-worded press releases in which Barber announced that he was resigning for the good of the show. In his memoir Who Am I, Barber later explained that he was removed from the position by the network, and was offered future projects with the network in exchange for agreeing to the press release. John Burgess has claimed on many occasions that he was offered the job back with a heavy pay raise and declined, but the Seven Network denied this story. John was quickly given a contract by the Nine Network to host the game show Catch Phrase (later re-titled Burgo's Catch Phrase) that would be Wheel of Fortune's rival for a few years.

Adding to the drama, Adriana Xenides, who had been with the show since it began and had never missed an episode, fell sick - ultimately suffering from depression and what she termed a "physical breakdown".

Tony Barber appeared at the start of the 1997 season premiere to introduce and hand the show over to Rob Elliott.

[edit] The 5000th episode

On 21 March 2006, "Australia's favorite game" celebrated a major milestone, as its 5000th episode went to air on the Seven Network. An extra element was added to the special show: the chance to win $5000 in cash. Two yellow "$5000" wedges were added to the Round 1 wheel. A third was added to Round 2's wheel. If a contestant was to spin it up and select a correct letter, they would have $5000 added to their score, but to win the actual money, they had to solve the puzzle (in the same way as the Surprise and Mystery Wedges). In Round 2, one of the contestants did spin up the "$5000" wedge and the Surprise Wedge and solved the puzzle, winning a total of $11,000 in that round! The other $5000 wedges were removed for Round 3.

The other change in the episode saw Round 4's Top Dollar doubled to $5000, using the same yellow wedge as in the prevous rounds. However, since the bell had sounded in Round 3 for the rest of the show to be the catch-up, host Larry was the only person to spin the wheel and landed on $770 (which was still excellent as it is the 2nd highest value in Round 4). There was no change to the Bonus Round.

[edit] Wheel ends

On 18th June 2006, the Seven Network officially announced that they had axed the show with the final episode airing on July 28, 2006, just one week after celebrating 25 years on Australian television.

[edit] Gameplay

The Australian rules are similar to the American version, but with several differences:

  • Scoring - While the American version & other foreign versions allow players to get the value of the spin multiplied by the number times the chosen letter appears in the puzzle, on the Australian version a player will only get credited with the amount spun; there is no multiplying of instances of consonants found in the puzzle.
  • Buying a Vowel - Vowels cost $50, and can only be purchased prior to spinning the wheel.
  • Securing Money - In the days prior to the show's 1996 re-vamp, contestants who solved a puzzle would 'spend' their winnings in the 'prize shop'. The amount that they were allowed to 'spend' would be any score won since the start of the game. For contestants who solved more than one puzzle per episode, the amount that they could 'spend' would be the amount that they had won since the last time they had visited the 'prize shop'. Once scores were 'spent' on prizes they would be secured, and unaffected by a Bankrupt in a future round. While the 'prize shop' has not been on the show since Tony Barber took over as host, the concept of 'securing money' when solving puzzles is still used (the rule was abandoned in mid 1996, but returned at the start of 1998)
  • Bonus Prize - This Worked In the same way as a Bonus Wedge, except it's for the First Person to spin up Top Dollar. This version of the Bonus Prize occured sometime during The Rob Elliot 1997-1998 Era.

[edit] Special Features

In addition the dollar values, there are other features to this game:

  • Flip-Up Puzzles - Works the same way as the American Toss-Up Puzzles. It merely gives control to whoever solves the puzzle (no money bonus however). Some Flip-Ups are Prize Puzzles (similar to America but in normal rounds) whoever solves correctly wins a prize related to the puzzle. Lastly, when hostess Laura Csortan touches the board during Flip Ups, the first letter is usually distant from the screen that she touched, unlike Vanna White, who, when she touches the board, the screen she touches is the first letter to appear.
  • Red Mystery Letter - If a letter revealed turns up red, it doubles the amount spun (similar to the Double Play in America) (Ex. If a person spins $300, picks a P, and one of the P's is red, the person gets $600). Because of this rule, the letter that is painted red is always a consonant. However, there have been rare occasions where production errors have made a vowel the red letter. The red vowels have never been picked, though.
  • Surprise Wedge (Space) – From 1995-2006, works in a similar way to the “prize space” on the American version. The red-coloured wedge that says "SURPRISE" gives a chance for a contestant to win a major prize during the main game. The prize is usually a holiday worth between $3,000 to $6,000, but on rare occasions, it has even been the car. In order for a contestant to win the prize, they must spin up the Surprise Wedge, select a letter in the puzzle to remove it and solve the puzzle in the same round. The prize is only revealed when the contestant who won the wedge solves the puzzle. The wedge appears in every round until removed by a contestant. They appear on top of the red-coloured spaces as follows: $165 in Round 1, (Early 2006: $375 in Rounds 2 & 3 and $385 in Round 4).
  • Bonus Wedge (Space)- works the exact same way as the "prize space" on the american version & the "SURPRISE" Wedge. The blue-coloured wedge that says "BONUS" gives a chance for a contestant to win a prize package during the main game. The Prize is probably below about $3,000 (like a Crystal Glassware Selection or Music from The Sony Music Group). Only appeared in 1994-2003, during Round 2.
  • Mystery Wedge (Space) – works in a similar way to the “mystery space” on the American version. Two $500 spaces marked with a stylized question mark are placed on the wheel. If a player lands on one of these mystery wedges and guesses a letter in the puzzle, they may either take $500 as normal, or turn over the mystery wedge. On the other side of the mystery wedge contains either a Bankrupt or a prize (usually $3,000-$18,000 holidays). If the player reveals the prize, as with any other wheel prize, they must solve the puzzle without hitting Bankrupt to win it. After one mystery wedge is revealed, that space becomes a normal cash wedge, and the other mystery wedge acts as a regular $500 space for the remainder of the round.
  • Speed-Up Round - Played the same way, but unlike the American version, the Australian version can have more than one speed up round. On Larry Emdur & Laura Csortan's first episode, there were two speed up rounds played.
  • Car Wedge (Space) - A car wedge was on the wheel in rounds 1-4 from 2000-2003. If a contestant spins up this wedge, they have to guess a correct letter and solve that puzzle (and they are then half way there). That contestant then has to do the same in one of the following rounds to win the car.

[edit] The Bonus Round

Like in America (except with a different smaller wheel starting in 2001), the winning contestant spins the wheel which now has prizes on it. The prize that the wheel lands on is the prize played for. Instead of getting "R" "S" "T" "L" "N" "E" plus three consonants & one more vowel, the contestant calls two consonants and a vowel (five consonants & two vowels were called on the 20th Anniversary special), but can earn an extra consononant for every $2,000 scored in the main game. Theoretically, enough money ($38,000) can be earned so as to call every consonant. The winning contesant then gets 10 seconds (just like in America) to solve the puzzle & win the prize.

At the start of its inception in 1981, There were two car wedges on the Golden Wheel. On the 1500th episode (ca. July 1988), the number of car wedges was increased to three. On a few occasions, they had a temporary jackpot system, in which the number of car wedges were increased by one each day it was not won. The car has never, however, regularly appeared on the wheel more than three times.

On July 15, 1996, when Burgess was undoubtedly sacked for Tony Barber & the show relocated to Sydney, the Golden Wheel round was removed in favor of an envelope-selection system, similar to the one used on the US version from 1989-2001. This & the rest of the show were heavily criticized for putting a little "spin" on things. On January 1997, the Golden Wheel was reinstated under the auspices of then-new host Rob Elliot. It was then that there were now four car wedges on the wheel.

From 2000-2003, a new element was added to the Golden Wheel. A new jackpot system, coupled with the car, starting at $2,000 and increasing $100 every night it was unclaimed, was installed. As of December 2003, the highest jackpot won was $25,000 including a car.

From 2004-2006, The Golden Wheel saw the amount of car wedges decreased to two. It was probably one of the reasons the newly-revamped "Wheel Of Fortune" became so low-rated & "rested" into production in 2005.

[edit] Champions

Since the end of Wheel Of Fortune, There have been a few record-breaking champions. They are:

  • Donovan Newton, $63,110 August 1996 (under Tony Barber's Format)
  • Dell Edwards, $68,000 July 12, 2001 (amount unknown, rounded off)
  • Moita Lindgren, $72,917 August 24 & 27, 2001 (mathematical mistake)

[edit] Presenters

Wheel of Fortune in Australia has had many hosts, hostesses and announcers through its long history. They include:

[edit] Hosts

[edit] Hostesses

[edit] Announcers

[edit] Fill-in hostesses

  • Kerrie Friend (1996, one week; 1997, seven months)
  • Terasa Livingstone (1996, one week)
  • Cecilia Yates (1996, one week)
  • Sonia Kruger (1998, two weeks)
  • Tania Zaetta (1996, one week; 1999, two weeks)
  • Mel Symons (2003, one week)

[edit] Angel Baby

The 1995 Australian movie Angel Baby featured Jacqueline McKenzie as a schizophrenic woman who believes that her guardian angel sends her messages via Adriana Xenides. She sees the Wheel of Fortune puzzles as omens and guides by which to live her life. For example, the puzzle 'Great Expectations' makes her believe that she is pregnant, while the phrase 'Worst Case Scenario' is a message of doom. The woman, Kate, keeps a shrine to Adriana in her home, and is distraught when Wheel of Fortune is put on hiatus and she has no way of communicating with her angel.

Special Wheel of Fortune material was recorded for the movie, with John Burgess, Adriana Xenides and John Deeks playing themselves. The movie won McKenzie an Australian Film Institute award for best actress

[edit] Trivia

[edit] External links

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